It is important that political actors have the support they need to implement this historic change. Active and informed political participation of all the relevant groups is crucial to making sure Colombian politics become inclusive, transparent and effective.

To lend its support in this process, NIMD is set to launch a new programme called “Democratic action for peace”. Funded by the EU, the programme aims to deepen democracy in Colombia in the context of the implementation of the Peace Agreement.

The programme

NIMD will provide support to the implementation in three main ways:

1. By developing the capacities of political actorsNIMD will support political parties in their work to implement the reforms required by the Peace Agreement. This will include supporting new political parties like the FARC to become fully-fledged political organizations.

2.By promoting a democratic culture and reconciliationColombia as a country is hurting. Many people suffered pain and hardship during the conflict. But it is now time to come together to work for peace. NIMD will set up eight multiparty Democracy Schools for civil society and (aspiring) politicians from all parties in those regions most affected by the conflict. By bringing people from across the political spectrum together in dialogue, and by promoting democratic values, NIMD hopes to help heal past wounds.

3. By providing technical supportNIMD will help implement and track the Peace Agreement by conducting research and setting out recommendations. As part of this, we will hold multiparty dialogue sessions on the challenges that parties face in their implementation of the Agreement.

The launch

The new programme will be launched on 21 March in Bogotá, Colombia. High level speakers – including H.E. Jeroen Roodenburg, Dutch Ambassador to Colombia, and H.E. Patricia Llombart Cussac, EU Ambassador to Colombia – will discuss the current situation in Colombia and their hopes for the future. This will be followed by a short presentation of the programme and our aims and objectives.

NIMD and the Colombian Peace Agreement

In the first of these roles, NIMD was a member of the selection committee for the Special Electoral Mission, a group responsible for providing recommendations to improve the electoral system. The Special Electoral Mission strived to make the political system more inclusive, opening up democratic space for new actors and thereby mitigating the chances of a relapse into armed conflict.

As its second official role, NIMD provides institutional support for the implementation of the Agreement on Political Participation, together with Carter Centre, UNASUR and Switzerland, and aims to communicate the significance of the reforms more broadly to the public in Colombia.

We are excited to have this opportunity to promote inclusive politics and reconciliation in Colombia. We firmly believe that inclusive dialogue and the promotion of a democratic culture are crucial in a country struggling to overcoming polarization and achieve lasting peace.

]]>https://nimd.org/democratic-action-for-peace-supporting-lasting-peace-in-colombia/feed/0Women, power and politics in fragile and conflict-affected settingshttps://nimd.org/women-power-and-politics-in-fragile-and-conflict-affected-settings/
https://nimd.org/women-power-and-politics-in-fragile-and-conflict-affected-settings/#respondWed, 14 Mar 2018 14:34:38 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5882CARE Nederland, WO=MEN and NIMD are set to hold a panel discussion on empowering women to participate in politics in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) in The Hague, the Netherlands, on 29 March.

Recent years have seen a growing recognition among the international development community of the importance of supporting women’s political participation and influence in FCAS.

However, despite improvements in policy and funding, the international community is still failing to effectively support women’s political participation and influence. Women in FCAS, especially grassroots women continue to be excluded from formal political processes, may it be because of deep rooted and powerful discriminatory gender norms, and/or the unbalanced interplay of formal and informal rules and power in FCAS.

NIMD, CARE Nederland and WO=MEN believe that engaging women in political decision-making processes strengthens their power, agency and rights. The panel discussion aims to spark a debate on the enabling conditions for women to increase their political influence in fragile contexts.

In the run-up to the debate, NIMD will show a documentary of the Guatemalan indigenous activist Sandra Morán and her path towards election as Member of Parliament. And CARE Nederland will present first findings of global research that it is conducting on Women’s Political Participation and Influence in FCAS.

Key note speech by:

Irma van Dueren (Dutch Ambassador of Yemen)

Expert panel includes:

Fatimazhra Belhirch (Women’s rights and government relations expert)

Members of Parliament

Laila Ait Baali (WO=MEN)

Tam O’Neil (CARE UK)

Concluding remarks by:

Simone Filippini (NIMD)

The event will take place at 9.30-12.30 on 29 March at Humanity House, The Hague, Netherlands. If you would be interested in joining us, please register before the 26th of March via this link.

]]>https://nimd.org/women-power-and-politics-in-fragile-and-conflict-affected-settings/feed/0Local youth engage with Prime Minister in Jordanhttps://nimd.org/local-youth-engage-with-prime-minister-in-jordan/
https://nimd.org/local-youth-engage-with-prime-minister-in-jordan/#respondMon, 12 Mar 2018 16:12:09 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5876Three participants of NIMD’s Young Political and Civic Actors Training Programme in Jordan were selected to take part in a meeting with the country’s Prime Minister, H.E. Hani Al-Mulki, and his Ministerial team.

The three participants, Hamzeh Hyassat, Rand Muhammad and Ahmad Ghraiz, were among 150 youth representatives selected from different governorates in Jordan. The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Youth and aimed to make youth voices heard, addressing the challenges young people face and helping to solve their problems.

Having been trained on communication skills and speech delivery, Hamzeh Hyassat was chosen to represent the youth from Balqa Governorate and speak on their behalf. Hyassat spoke on the economic challenges currently facing Jordan. Hamzeh provided accurate statistics on budget deficit and other relevant data, which was part of the training the youth received on analysing data and using convincing arguments in influencing public opinion.

Rand Muhammad and Ahmad Ghraiz shared their ideas and thoughts on the importance of engaging youth in politics.

During the meeting, Minister Musa Maytaah spoke on the role of the government in creating an environment for political parties to flourish and increasing youth political participation. He outlined recent laws which aim to increase citizens’ political participation. He also mentioned that the Ministry is in the process of issuing a new by-law on State Subsidies to Political Parties. EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions & Development’ Programme (EU-JDID) supported the Ministry in facilitating three workshops with the 47 registered political parties in order to discuss the potential modification of the by-law that regulates state subsidies to political parties.

The annual Young Political and Civic Actors Training Program is implemented by NIMD as part of the ‘EU Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions & Development’ Programme (EU-JDID) project. The training programme is organized in cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs.

Today is International Women’s Day. Every year, on 8th March, the world turns its attention to the situation of women. For one day, the struggles and barriers they face are placed firmly in the spotlight; we celebrate the successes of women, look back on our progress and consider how far there still is to go.

Of course, this is valuable. If nothing else, it raises visibility for a struggle that is very real for more than half of the world’s population. International Women’s Day is a perfect time for politicians to throw their weight behind equal opportunities for girls and boys, women and men. Many pledge their support for their female colleagues, and recognize the barriers they face in their careers.

But what next?

Sometimes politicians’ warm words and sincere wishes are accompanied by very little action.

Strong actions and concrete changes

The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report tells us that it will take another 160 years before women and men are equally represented in politics.

That’s totally unacceptable. And it’s not something that can be fixed with warm words and visibility alone.

Only with strong actions and concrete changes, can we make the difference that’s needed. Of course, women themselves must be strategic and gather the skills they need to survive and flourish in the political arena. But governments also have to take up their responsibility and put their word firmly into action to ensure that the obstacles to politically active women are removed.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #pressforprogress, and that’s exactly what NIMD does. We press for real, sustained progress for women’s political participation in the countries we work in. And we press for that progress to be faster, so that the world doesn’t have to wait 160 years for women’s voices to be heard.

Building inclusive democracies

In our experience, pressing for progress is not just about promoting a seat at the table for women. In order make real steps towards inclusiveness, we address the unwritten rules and practices that exclude women from participating in the political arena in the first place.

That means working with political actors to influence national legislation, helping political parties on their internal party regulations and, last but not least, fostering an open political culture through training and dialogue.

And, we worked across our programmes to amplify women’s voices and give them a platform to influence their environment. One example is Mozambique, where we supported our local partner the Instituto para Democracia Multipartidária (IMD Mozambique) to bring together 300 promising young women active in political parties and civil society. Together, the participants aimed to promote the inclusion of women in decision-making processes, and influence the peace agenda, national reconciliation and defining public policies. They wrote a position paper that was circulated throughout the country by the major media outlets, and which will be used to lobby political parties to ensure 50% of people on their electoral lists are women.

Political will is the key

Ultimately, of course, everything stands or falls with political will. And there needs to be a serious will among those in power to share that power. The space and support for women politicians primarily reflects the vision of leadership on society.

So we will continue to empower women politicians, helping them to break through barriers and pave the way into leadership. The more women reach positions of influence, the more they will be able to change the system around them.

We will also work with governments and other power holders to help them stick to the commitments they make each International Women’s Day. We need them on our side to make sure that, where 50% of the population are women, 50% of our powerful political representatives are women too.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, once asked: “What is democracy? Is it people for the people, or men for the people?”

At NIMD, we are working towards a not-too-distant future where we will be able to answer that question the way we would all like to.

]]>https://nimd.org/international-womens-day-2018-pressing-for-progress-for-women-in-politics/feed/0Presenting our new Supervisory Council Presidenthttps://nimd.org/presenting-our-new-supervisory-council-president/
https://nimd.org/presenting-our-new-supervisory-council-president/#respondFri, 19 Jan 2018 09:45:04 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5806NIMD is very pleased to welcome Eimert van Middelkoop as the new President of our Supervisory Council. Eimert, a longstanding member of the Council, will take over from Bernard Bot who has stepped down this month.

The Supervisory Council consists of independent professionals, many of whom are from the political or academic sectors. They oversee NIMD’s activities, and enrich our work with their specific expertise and experience.

Eimert van Middelkoop

Eimert van Middelkoop is a Dutch politician; he has been a Member of Parliament and the Senate and is a former Minister of Defence (2007-2010). He has been on many missions during his years on the Supervisory Council. Most recently, in July 2017, Eimert shared his insights with young politicians as the keynote speaker at NIMD’s Digital Democracy Forum in Georgia.

Eimert’s vast experience, along with a genuine belief in the vision and work of NIMD, makes him ideally placed to oversee the support that the Supervisory Council provides to the organization.

“Dutch foreign politics is characterized by idealism. NIMD is proof that democratic ideals can be turned into practice in complex political and fragile environments where few organizations dare to work. That’s what I find appealing about the organization. I’m proud that NIMD has accepted the many challenges working with difficult political structures in developing democracies around the world.”

Eimert van Middelkoop is very happy to be taking up the new role. In his role as President of the Supervisory Board, he looks forward to using his specific background and experience to advise the organization on how to continue to ensure that our approaches enable fragile countries to really embed multiparty democracy in their society.

Bernard Bot

As well as looking forward to our continuing priorities, this is also a time to say goodbye to the former President of the Supervisory Council, Bernard Bot, who has been involved in NIMD’s work for over 10 years.

A Dutch diplomat, Bernard Bot served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 until 2007. His previous roles included Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Dutch Ambassador to Turkey and Permanent representative of the Netherlands to the European Union.

His wealth of experience and international portfolio have been a valuable asset to our work, as well as the dedication he has always shown to our mandate.

“I very much believe in NIMD’s work and objective. Supporting democracy and democratization in young and fragile democracies is important, now more than ever. Solid democratic governance within stable structures is a prerequisite for prosperity, development, human rights and accountability. It needs our attention.”

As Supervisory Council President, Bernard Bot also took part in many visits to programme countries. During his most recent visit, he helped launch our new School of Politics in Jordan. On these trips, his ability to connect with politicians, building our network and sharing ideas on the importance of democracy, always shone through.

Ultimately, Bernard Bot will be missed for his broad knowledge and experience, his dedication to NIMD and a strong sense of pride in his work.

“I’m proud that NIMD is doing well and is growing. We have also had difficult times, times of uncertainty. I’m proud that we were able to get through those periods together and have come out stronger on the other side.”

NIMD’s staff and Supervisory Council would like to express our deep gratitude to Bernard for his commitment and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

]]>https://nimd.org/presenting-our-new-supervisory-council-president/feed/0The Charter on Electoral Ethics: A CEMI initiativehttps://nimd.org/the-charter-on-electoral-ethics-a-cemi-initiative/
https://nimd.org/the-charter-on-electoral-ethics-a-cemi-initiative/#respondMon, 08 Jan 2018 11:52:37 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5776Seven Tunisian political parties officially signed a charter on electoral ethics, committing to promote a climate of mutual respect in the run-up to Tunisia’s municipal elections on 6 May 2017.

By signing this pact, the signatories commit to respecting ethical values in the field of politics. The charter is based around four main actions:

To speed up the review of the law on opinion surveys.

To revise the Associations Act and strengthen oversight over the management of associations.

To ensure that the electoral body is kept away from political infighting.

To oversee political party finance mechanisms and electoral lists.

In addition, the charter highlights the need for human, material and financial resources to be provided to the Court of Auditors and the Administrative Court.

The charter also calls on High Independent Authority of the Audiovisual Commission (HAICA) to put in place strict measures against radio and television scheduling which does not respect the laws in place during electoral campaigns.

The signatories also urge HAICA to ensure equality of opportunity for all candidates and neutrality in media coverage.

In general, the pact aims to reinstate the public’s trust in impartial and transparent elections.

]]>https://nimd.org/the-charter-on-electoral-ethics-a-cemi-initiative/feed/0Building relations and fostering dialogue: An exchange visit from Georgia and Ukraine to the Netherlandshttps://nimd.org/building-relations-and-fostering-dialogue-an-exchange-visit-from-georgia-and-ukraine-to-the-netherlands/
https://nimd.org/building-relations-and-fostering-dialogue-an-exchange-visit-from-georgia-and-ukraine-to-the-netherlands/#respondWed, 20 Dec 2017 11:26:34 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5738A delegation of politicians and civil society organization (CSO) leaders from Georgia and Ukraine visited The Hague this week as part of a programme designed to enhance cooperation and policy awareness.

The delegates met with Dutch MPs, Ambassadors, and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs to identify shared interests, exchange information and gain insight into the policy positions of the different countries.

Diplomacy, Security and Democracy

The visit culminated in a lunch and roundtable discussion with MPs and officials from both opposition and government parties from Georgia, Ukraine and the Netherlands on 20 December in Nieuwspoort. The debate focused on the theme of “Diplomacy, Security and Democracy”.

Topics for discussion included:

Taking stock of trilateral affairs, including an exchange of opinions on the Fifth Eastern Partnership Summit.

Security and Conflict Resolution, specifically Russian interference in Ukraine, Georgia and the Netherlands, and Russian propaganda and fake news.

Democratic development in the three countries, including political reform and the political participation of women and minorities.

The Context

The visit comes at a moment when both Georgia and Ukraine are actively seeking closer ties with the European Union. The two countries have signed both an association agreement and a trade agreement with the EU, and their citizens have been able to travel visa-free to the member states of the Union since earlier this year.

These institutional frameworks ensure stronger political, economic and cultural ties but should, at the same time, be accompanied by strengthened bilateral relations.

]]>https://nimd.org/building-relations-and-fostering-dialogue-an-exchange-visit-from-georgia-and-ukraine-to-the-netherlands/feed/0Tunisian School of Politics: Graduates begin Dutch politics tourhttps://nimd.org/tunisian-school-of-politics-graduates-begin-dutch-politics-tour/
https://nimd.org/tunisian-school-of-politics-graduates-begin-dutch-politics-tour/#respondTue, 12 Dec 2017 09:58:53 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5678Despite heavy snow delaying their arrival by a day, a group of young Tunisian politicians have started an intense three day exchange visit to the Netherlands as part of NIMD’s Democracy School programme.

The visit is the culmination of a year’s training in the Tunisian School of Politics, together with partner organisations Demo Finland and the Centre des Etudes Méditerranéennes et Internationales (CEMI). Over the course of the week the delegation will visit the Dutch Parliament, engage in meetings with politicians from various parties (including the Speaker of Parliament), meet local politicians, trade unions and the Tunisian Ambassador to the Netherlands.

The visit is based around the themes of national and local politics and social dialogue. A key focus will be on the importance of social dialogue in the Dutch political system in finding common ground and striking consensus on social issues. These themes are particularly relevant to Tunisia in its current democratic transition and with local elections taking place in Spring 2018.

Each year the Tunisian political parties nominate their best young politicians to take part in the Tunisian School of Politics. The year-long training programme involves 45 politicians from 9 political parties. The best participants are assessed with the top 10 then selected for the exchange trip. This year’s delegation are youthful (everyone under 40 years of age) gender balanced and represent all Tunisian political parties with at least three seats in parliament.

The overall purpose of the visit is to inspire, encourage and impart international best practices in democratic dialogue processes.

]]>https://nimd.org/tunisian-school-of-politics-graduates-begin-dutch-politics-tour/feed/0One party dominance: threat or opportunity for democratization?https://nimd.org/one-party-dominance-threat-or-opportunity-for-democratization/
https://nimd.org/one-party-dominance-threat-or-opportunity-for-democratization/#respondSun, 10 Dec 2017 15:58:09 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5681This blog is the third in a series of insights on Political Paradoxes, through which our Knowledge Development Advisor, Jerome Scheltens, explores how we deal with paradoxes, contradictions or counter-intuitive manifestations in politics through our work.

Recently, we saw the sudden end of Robert Mugabe’s reign in Zimbabwe. Sudden, but not unexpected. With the ruler approaching 94 years of age, sooner or later a political change was going to take place. What still surprised many people, was how relatively peaceful it was.

A key factor in this peaceful transfer of power was of course the disciplined military intervention. But, ultimately, it also came down to the role of the ZANU-PF political party behind the leader. The foiled attempt by ‘Uncle Bob’ to have his wife ‘inherit’ his rule can now be considered a positive result of the fact that an organized party structure is also part of Mugabe’s legacy.

Of course, a political landscape dominated by one party is far from the ideal situation. These political systems are often considered a challenge in democracy assistance work since power concentrated in the hands of one party facilitates state capture. It also complicates the multiparty concept where several parties and a vibrant opposition should provide the electorate with clearly distinguishable policies.

Nevertheless, a strong party seems preferable to a strong president; rule by organized and institutionalized political structures does, at least, increase the chance of a peaceful transfer of power. Parties which are strong enough to balance or limit the leader’s dominance have created a lot of stability and set the stage for peaceful handovers of power in countries like Mozambique and Tanzania.

In fact, while many of us may not even know the names of the current presidents of these countries, Frelimo and CCM are well known ruling parties. Given the current international focus on stability and the prevention of violence, the role of strong parties in easing the transfer of power should not be underestimated.

However, the dominance of the Executive, especially in presidential systems, is a far more difficult challenge. Uganda is a case in point, and I am of course not the first to now look at Museveni’s Uganda, following what happened in Zimbabwe.

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) operates as the dominant presidential party in Uganda but this former military machine has still not fully transformed into a professional political structure like Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. One reason is that Museveni has never seemed to have a great love for political parties in general, having stalled and changed the formal multiparty system on several occasions during his rule. So far, Museveni seems to have hinted at neither a personal nor a party succession. It would seem, then, that a less institutionalized party managing the demise of a leader makes a peaceful transition more challenging.

So, the situation in Uganda is far removed from the strong party system in Mozambique and Tanzania, and from the strongly-rooted party structure in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, in all these contexts the key is to support and work with all the existing parties and to encourage dialogue between them while finding opportunities to give smaller parties a voice. This is what we at NIMD understand by inclusive dialogue with all relevant parties.

]]>https://nimd.org/one-party-dominance-threat-or-opportunity-for-democratization/feed/0#InnDem2017 – Innovating Democracy: a transforming political landscapehttps://nimd.org/inndem2017-innovating-democracy-conference/
https://nimd.org/inndem2017-innovating-democracy-conference/#respondThu, 30 Nov 2017 14:32:30 +0000https://nimd.org/?p=5606The third edition of our Innovating Democracy event was a full-day interactive debate on 30 November 2017 in The Hague.

This year has seen many new political actors gain power, and even win elections, with the help of social media and digital tools. It’s clear that the political landscape is shifting, and the use of democratic innovation to meet the needs of this new context is more pertinent than ever.

To discuss this shift, Innovating Democracy brought together political parties and movements who have experience with cutting-edge political innovation.

A number of key questions were addressed:

How does technology influence the public and political debate and behaviour?

Is technology empowering us to voice our opinions or is it providing a platform to disregard ethical boundaries?

Do tech companies have too much power to influence the political debate?

Where does technical innovation leave political parties?

The event was a chance to take part in interesting debates and learn from leaders in the field of democratic innovation. Speakers included academics and journalists, for example, Mike Hind, who outlined how people create fake armies of supporters to take advantage of the hyper-partisan political and social points of view that are built into social media platforms.

A number of political parties were also represented, including Podemos and En Marche. Significant contributors to the Trump campaign and Jeremy Corbyn’s 2017 campaign also shared their experiences using innovative technologies.